President’s Message
Greetings Retirees!
You will be receiving a mailing from the Retiree Chapter Board soon. Please do not throw it away! We are planning the postponed Biennial Meeting and need your input. What you will be receiving is information on our Biennial Meeting and an important survey that we would like all to participate in. It will help us tremendously to put together a meeting that will bring us together. So please fill it out and return it to AFT Washington. I know that not all retirees will get this digital Union Spotlight, as we do not have email addresses for all. So please pass this information onto retirees that you know and ask them to fill out the survey.
We are also looking for people that are interested in being a Director on our Board. We have positions to fill and would greatly appreciate new thoughts and ideas to move forward in the next two years for the good of our retirees. If you would like information on Directors’ work check out our by-laws on the webpage or if you have any questions feel free to contact me at Merrilee.miron@gmail.com. Voting will be held at the Biennial meeting.
Thank you all, and enjoy your summer.
In solidarity
Merrilee Miron, AFT Washington Retiree Chapter President
Legislative Update: Getting Universal Healthcare A Step Closer
By Jim Howe, Director
For the last few years, AFT Washington has co-sponsored a Universal Healthcare resolution for the Washington State Labor Council that usually passes with overwhelming support. And then, when it comes time for action, nothing happens, as Labor unions push back in fear of losing the health benefits they fought so hard for in bargaining over the years. In 2023, we added a provision that WSLC will help get a dialog started between the state unions. Again, that didn't happen due to other WSLC priorities. Meanwhile, the state's Universal Healthcare Commission is struggling to move forward without any input from divided Labor.
But the dialog did happen. Our HealthCare is a Human Right (HCHR) alliance put on workshops in August 2024 and April 2025 by the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, a dynamic national group, working "because it's time to take healthcare off the bargaining table".
AFT Washington is preparing to send delegates to the 2025 WSLC Convention in July, and I will also be representing the Retirees and HCHR. The 2025 Resolution "Continuing the Fight for Healthcare Justice and Supporting the Work of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare" is co-sponsored by AFT Washington, WEA, APALA, PSARA, RPEC, the Machinists, WFSE and 4 of the regional Central Labor Councils. Quite a show of unity.
From The Seattle Times: Pension surplus: Funds are for pensions
Re: “Don’t treat state’s pension surplus like a slush fund” (June 11, Opinion):
Thank you for calling out Washington House Democrats’ fiscally irresponsible proposal to use excess pension funds as a onetime stopgap to decrease the budget deficit.
Due to poor planning, the Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters Plan 1 fund is overfunded by nearly $3 billion. Equally poor planning substantially underfunded Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1 and Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 1 funds. To decrease that deficit, legislators in 2011 took away from TRS/PERS 1 retirees the yearly cost of living adjustments given retirees in all other state pension plans. Since 2010 these, the state’s oldest pensioners, have been granted only five COLAs.
Washington’s Senate recognized the injustice of depriving one group the inflation protection given members of all other pension plans. Senators passed SSB 5085, merging the three Plan 1 funds, ensuring that police and firefighters continue to receive full pensions and restoring the COLAs unfairly taken away from other Plan 1 retirees. House Democrats refused to vote on the bill and referred it to the Select Committee on Pension Policy.
House members will again have the opportunity to approve the bill in 2026. Let us hope they will accept that pension funds are for pensions not slush funds.
Edith Ruby, Seattle
Let’s Connect!
The AFT Washington Retiree Chapter is interested in growing our mailing list. If you have updates to your email or your home address, let us know – contact Cortney Marabetta at cmarabetta@aftwa.org.